"I've practically gobbled up half this cookie batter already. Talking to you is the only way I'm going to stop eating it!"

This batter really is good—and the baked cookies are even better. While I adore a good butter cookie—and am constantly amazed by the number of bad butter cookies out there—I've never been much of a shortbread fan. And maybe it's just me, but shortbread recipes often seem rather fussy.

This batter comes together in less time than it takes the oven to heat up, and there's no patting anything into a pan or making decorative designs with a fork.

These cute little cookies are a like scrumptious cross between butter cookies and shortbread, combining the best qualities of each. They go well with mugs of hot coffee or cold glasses of milk, would make a dainty addition to an afternoon tea tray, and travel well so they're perfect for toting to picnics and potlucks.

I usually make my cookies extra large, but after doing some experimenting, I've decided that these taste best when small. I also applied my More, More, More philosophy, upping the mini chocolate chips and toffee bits, but ultimately reduced the amount called for in the original version. That way you taste more of the buttery cookie.

Like most shortbreads, these will keep for several days (which makes them a wonderful choice for holiday goodie boxes mailed to faraway loved ones), and I think they taste better the day after baking. They also freeze beautifully. Pack them in little cello bags tied with a colorful ribbon for handy gifts, perhaps tucked into oversized cappuccino cups. Everyone loves them.

I have no idea if they're good warm from the oven, because by the time they've finished baking I'm always way too full of batter to want one.

The original recipe has you shape dozens of spoonfuls of dough into tiny balls and then press them lightly onto the baking sheet to flatten the bottoms. I don't have that kind of patience, so I just use a little scoop instead.

I also skipped the part where you dip half of each cookie in melted chocolate because I've never been able to do that without making a big mess, plus my chocolate never seems to completely dry. If you want a fancier looking cookie you might try it, though I think they're perfectly fine without.

I'm a sucker for any recipe that calls for English toffee bits, but these would also be good made with all mini chocolate chips or mini chips and finely chopped pecans. And for shortbread purists, I bet they'd be very nice without anything extra added at all.

With a hand held electric mixer, cream the butter and powdered sugar until smooth, about 1 minute. Beat in the vanilla, and then add the flour and salt. Reduce the speed to low and mix in the mini chocolate chips and toffee bits.

These sound divine! I was looking for something to make as Halloween treats for my homeschool-Mommy friends and these fit the bill. I love that they're small & can wrap easily into a cute container. Can't wait to make them in a few weeks!

With dairy products and grain, and if you added nuts you would have a pervect meal:) Seriously these look great. Since I'm messing with the toater oven for baking these mini cookies may be just the tickt.

I made those cookies a little over an hour ago. I substituted caramel for chocolate chips and toffee, and I used almond extract instead of vanilla (I believe that by some quirk of fate, both of those were organic).

I think I ate half the batter and thereafter half the cookies - I'm currently typing this out of sight of the freezer so I wont go steal more.

Thanks for sharing this awesome awesome recipe for my spanking new cookie sheets!

Gretchen Joanna,Sorry about the delay getting back to you. Yep, the Heath bits are basically smashed up Heath bars. Hershey's makes two different kinds of toffee bits, though - one has both the chocolate and toffee (which are good but you end up with some chocolate powder and not as 'pretty' pieces) and another kind that is just the toffee bits with no chocolate.

The last package of toffee only Heath bits I bought was labeled 'English toffee bits,' but I don't see them on the Hershey's website product page (click here). They're showing "HEATH English Milk Chocolate Toffee Bits" and "HEATH BITS 'O BRICKLE Toffee Bits" so I don't know if they've just added that 'bits o' brickle' part to the ones I was using or what.

Okay, was that the longest answer ever to what basically a yes or no question? : )

Guinea Pig Poet,LOL it's good to know there's somebody out there as bad as I am when it comes to cookies and cookie batter! :)

I made these cookies and they are awesome! they're even better the next day... my husband couldn't stop eating them. Also - just found your blog a couple weeks ago and am really enjoying it. Thanks for blogging!

Hi Beth,Sorry for the delay getting back to you. That kitchen towel is from the Martha Stewart collection at Macy's. Last year (or was it the year before?) I ordered several cute designs via macys.com, and with all the specials they were having, they ended up being something like a dollar apiece. They're really nice quality and have been holding up well. I definitely recommend them - even if you have to pay a lot more than a dollar! : )

I made SEVERAL batches of these last week--for dessert for guests, for a church meeting, and then for a bake sale. Of course, I had some here and there and they are marvelous. One of my favorite cookies now and I shared it on my blog with a link back here. So glad I found your blog.

I just wanted you to know that I tried them right out of the oven and was disappointed. (Aren't warm cookies ALWAYS better?) However, I tried them the next day and was instantly in love. I've learned from others that shortbread type cookies are always better cold. I love your site and look forward to trying other recipes!Brenda

I just made these--saw a link you posted a few days/week ago. YUM! And so easy. Yesterday I made a half batch and today made another full batch. They are tasty fresh from the oven but much better after they have cooled.

I didn't have any toffee chips so I just used all choc chips and they were excellent. Thank you! I never knew shortbread could be so easy. I am keeping this as a go-to recipe for sure.

Hi! I know this is a way-late reply to a way-old post, but man these cookies. I needed a recipe for something new and tasty (and quick, but isn't that how it always goes?), and man did these ever fit the bill.

Poking around through the rest of the site, there's ever more things I want to try/look at, so I guess I've got to follow you now!

I posted this tip on some other post, but wanted to add it to this recipe page because now I've done it twice & it works SO well.

If you want to bake these in the most efficient way (ie - without heating up a kitchen in the summer) the dough will roll out beautifully. I dumped it onto a big sheet of parchment in blobs & covered the blobs with a sheet of plastic wrap. Then I rolled it out with a rolling pin. The dough smoothed out to a nice thickness (between 1/4" and 1/8", around the thickness of a vanilla wafer I guess).

I popped the parchment paper + dough sheet + plastic wrap in the fridge for about 5 minutes. Then pulled it out, removed the plastic wrap, and used a pizza wheel to cut square cookies. A butter knife lifted them off the parchment paper really easily & onto the cookie sheets (also covered in parchment).

I only left about 1/4" to 1/2" of space between the cookies because these don't spread much. And the entire batch of dough fit on just 2 cookie sheets (meaning the oven was on for much less time).

This dough is the nicest stuff to roll out, too. I hate rolling out dough, but this cooperated so well. In the end, you sacrifice 1 extra piece of parchment paper but save a lot of oven time. And if you have those square plastic containers, the square cookies fit in them better. These freeze beautifully, too. I think this is my favorite cookie recipe.

Great idea with the toffee bits! I just made this recipe and a bit of a snafu - I halved the ingredients and the dough was very crumbly, so I added one egg and mixed it on low and then, poof, all better and they came out great! Do you think this is one of those recipes that "just doesn't work when deduced" or??? Thoughts? Thanks, and I am new to farmgirl and am really enjoying your site so far, thanks for all your hard work! Take it easy, MJ

Hi MJ,Welcome to the farm! So glad you found us and are enjoying your visits.

As for this cookie recipe, there's no reason a half batch shouldn't work, so I'm not sure what happened. The amount of moisture and the weight of different flours can vary quite a bit, so that might have been it. If you make them again, you could try using a little less flour.

Or is there any chance you didn't use a whole stick of butter (1/2 cup) in your version? I just noticed I only had '1 cup butter' listed on the ingredients and have changed it to '1 cup butter (2 sticks/8 ounces)' to make it clearer. I know sometimes it can get confusing with 1 cup being 2 sticks. :)

I made these as part of the Christmas cookie assortment that I make for my coworkers. First, they were easy. Second, they came out looking just like yours. And third, they are fantastic! Everyone loves them. I tell everyone they came from Farmgirl. Thanks, Susan!

Cookies don't have "batter", they have dough. Pancakes have batter. A standard butter cookie recipe wouldn't call for so much powdered sugar (eek). I will probably modify the recipe but it sounds good for Christmas pack & send stuff.

I grew up calling it cookie batter - maybe it's a California thing. And actually, 1/2 cup of powdered sugar (which weighs less than granulated) for 2 cups of flour and 1 cup of butter isn't very much sugar at all.

Hello, No need to reply, I just wanted to send a heartfelt THANK YOU, for this recipe, and for all your efforts to make a lovely and entertaining place to visit on the web. I live a bit vicariously through you from time to time & I make lots of people happy with these cookies. Look forward to making some of your other recipes some day too! Wish you continued success and all the best. -Pam in Central TX

January 2013 update: I know word verification is a big pain, but it's the only way I can stop the ridiculous number of anonymous spam comments I get every day. I don't want to require commenters to be registered Blogger or Open ID users because I know many of you aren't. Thanks so much for your understanding!

Hi! Thanks for visiting Farmgirl Fare and taking the time to write. While I'm not always able to reply to every comment, I receive and enjoy reading them all.

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